Guinea

000073

Author: Willem Janszoon Blaeu

Date: 1659

Medium: Hand-colored copperplate engraving

Condition: Excellent

Inches: 15 1/4" x 20 3/4"

Centimeters: 39.10 x 53.21

Price: $1,295.00

Description:

GVINEA, From Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Willem Blaeu, A decorative map of the west-central African coastline, stretching from the area of Freetown, Sierra Leone on the left, down to Equatorial Guinea on the lower right, and encompassing the territories of present-day Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon. A fanciful rendering of an ape sits atop a cartouche, flanked by a man and woman of the region. Two cherubs lug an elephant tusk through the water in the lower left, suggesting the riches of the ivory trade.